John Ellis Bush (JEB?) once again demonstrated how out of touch the Bush family is by sickeningly gushing over his idiot brother, telling donors in Houston that W. was "awe-inspiring" and a "case study in leadership".
Well, explain this, W.'s brother:
Mexico is a 3rd-world country suffering from massive corruption.
The US in 2005 was a 1st-world country suffering under the 2nd Bush administration.
Both Patricia and Katrina were Category 5 Hurricanes, but Patricia was much larger and with maximum sustained winds at 165 mph (reaching 200 mph at its peak) compared with Katrina's 140 mph.
Here's how the government of Mexico prepared:
In the hours before and after the storm, warnings blared on radio and television broadcasts across the region. Government pickups with loudspeakers circulated through neighborhoods.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated their homes. More than 1,200 shelters were set up.
Now, here's how Bush prepared for Katrina.
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.
Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”
The footage — along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press — show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.
Linked by video, Bush’s confidence on Aug. 28 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.
W's indifference was costly:
Patricia: 0 lives lost
Katrina: 1, 833 lives lost
But this was a Bush problem, not an American problem.
And to punctuate that point, might I present what REAL leadership looks like. By the time Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, FEMA teams and resources were already in place. The death toll for Sandy was 37 people. President Obama immediately flew to New Jersey to comfort the victims. I contrast that response with a picture of what Bush was doing in California the day Hurricane Katrina hit:
But other than that, Mr. Bush, how was the cake?
Case study in leadership, indeed. It would be comical if it wasn't so insulting.